Ghosts? Um, well, you see . . .

I love ghosts. I’m pretty sure I saw one once. I have a big lump of hematite a friend gave me for when I go to spooky old hotels, because apparently I have some kind of shininess that departed souls like. (Though not sure if I’m supposed to offer it as a gift, huck it at them, or what.)

I’ve done the ghost walking tour in the French Quarter at least four times, plus the one in Savannah just for good measure. Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo used to irritate the crap out of me because there was never REALLY anything ghostly going on.

But I have a confession to make. I think I snuck into the All Hallow’s Eve event on a technicality. Because the ghosts in my debut novel, GHOST PLANET . . . they’re actually aliens.

Yes, it’s true. But wait!!!

They DO look and act just like someone you know who died. And they DO follow you around wherever you go. If you try to force them to stay behind they wail in agony. And that’s pretty creepy, right?

Add all that to the fact my heroine, Elizabeth, dies just as the story opens, and on page 29 discovers she’s destined to spend the rest of her life “haunting” Murphy, the sexy psychologist who was supposed to be her boss. Really, I’m feeling less guilty by the moment.

And how about this — Elizabeth sees her own body!

My breath stuck in my throat as I saw the neat row of dark zippered bags, inert amidst the hurricane of activity. A tunnel of silence connected me with those bags, and a pull in my chest drew me across the tarmac.

I gazed down at the first of the oblong, lumpy forms. A strip of white tape stretched across one end of the zipper. Something had been written on the tape in black marker.

A. Nakagomi.

I walked slowly down the line, my eyes moving from tag to tag. Only three more to go . . . and suddenly I stopped.

A voice broke through the silence. “Hey, move away from there!”

Blood surging in my ears, I bent and gave the zipper a yank, ripping the white tape in half. I peeled back the edges of the bag.

Vertigo knocked me backward onto the tarmac. I couldn’t breathe.

I’d expected blanched, waterlogged skin. Purple lips. Sunken eyes. But she looked peaceful. Like she was sleeping. I crouched over her and grazed her cheek with my thumb, then recoiled at the temperature of her skin.

Someone pulled me away from the body and started shouting in my face. I couldn’t make sense of anything coming out of his mouth. Murphy moved into view and spoke quietly to him. The official’s words froze on his lips and his gaze darted to the unzipped bag, then back to me.

He released me abruptly, like I was coated with biocontaminant, and both of them moved away.

A boxy cargo ship roared in over the trees and settled like a fat hen next to the passenger ship. Big block letters on the rear cargo door read, “Cold Transport.”

I think I slid in fair and square. How about you?

(And tell me your ghost story if you’ve got one. I LOVE them!)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sharon Lynn Fisher is a three-time RWA Golden Heart finalist and the author of GHOST PLANET, coming from Tor/Macmillan on Oct. 30. The book is a sci-fi/romance blend that offers a “fresh and fascinating take on the human-alien problem” (says author Linnea Sinclair). Sharon has a passion for world-building and twisty plots. One theme that recurs in her writing is what it means to be human, and she’s also fascinated by symbiosis in human relationships.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Psychologist Elizabeth Cole prepared for the worst when she accepted a job on a newly discovered world—a world where every colonist is tethered to an alien who manifests in the form of a dead loved one. But she never expected she’d struggle with the requirement to shun these “ghosts.” She never expected to be so attracted to the charming Irishman assigned as her supervisor. And she certainly never expected to discover she died in a transport crash en route to the planet.

Reincarnated as a ghost, Elizabeth is symbiotically linked to her supervisor, Murphy—creator of the Ghost Protocol, which forbids him to acknowledge or interact with her. Confused and alone—oppressed by her ghost status and tormented by forbidden love—Elizabeth works to unlock the secrets of her own existence. But her quest for answers lands her in a tug-of-war between powerful interests, and she soon finds herself a pawn in the struggle for control of the planet…a struggle that could separate her forever from the man that she loves.

GIVEAWAY!

Tor Books are giving away THREE (3) copies of Ghost Planet.

To enter the giveaway please answer the following question then fill out the form below: If you could have a ghost follow you around, who would you choose? Or, if you could be a ghost and follow someone around, who would you choose? The latter can be anyone, dead or alive.

Carolyn created Book Chick City in July 2009 due to her love of books. A Brit chick obsessed with zombies, kick-arse chicks and sexy heroes. She's also seriously addicted to chocolate, shopping, and coffee. Her favourite genres are Urban Fantasy, Romance and Zombie Lit... Brrraaaaiiinnnnsss!

it would be my grandma as i miss her so very much and she didnt get to see my husband ir children , also many things she said are now make much more sense now as i have matured and see things differantly , and i would love to tell her how wise she was

Thanks for a great post and congrats to Sharon on the new/upcoming release! Umm… I don’t know if I would l want to be haunted or the haunter! But I guess… maybe haunted by Ghandi cuz he wouldn’t cause trouble and would give good advice and I would haunt the president of the US just to find out all the national secrets

If I was a ghost, I can’t decide whether I’d want to follow my loved ones around and protect them or haunt the ones who did me wrong!! Hmmmmm, if I had to choose one or the other, I’d stay with my loved ones.

whoop whoop!!!! One of my new fave authors!!! Can I just say this book is DEFINITELY worth taking the time to enter!!! Utterly loved reading and reviewing Ghost Planet!!! Congratulations on such an amazing book Sharon…

I love reading these! Very interesting answers. I wanted to participate too, but every time I thought I’d decided on someone, I couldn’t help imagining how I’d feel if they followed me to the bathroom, the bedroom . . . :O

But that aside, I think Jane Austen. I would ask her for advice 100 times a day. And she is bound to be cheerful company.

you are more than welcome Sharon. I love reading books I just can’t put down, even if they do make me late for work and shattered in a morning as you just HAVE to finish the page..(ok… the next chapter,…. just one more chapter…honest!!) So far as who I would have follow me..hmm..so they can be alive or dead…. too hard to choose just one. I think I would have to have a gaggle of ghosts, one for every occasion! Michael McIntyre for when I need a laugh, my Mum for when I need comfort, and Buddah for when I need some divine patience..although they had better not follow me into the bedroom, as I don’t need michael laughing, mum watching, or buddha commenting in there!

If I had a ghost following me, I would prefer it to be someone I knew in real life. Maybe my grandmother on my mom’s side of the family. If I were a ghost myself, I would watch over my family and protect them as best as I could.